RIP Peaches Geldof

Celia Cyanide · May 1, 2014

You know what, shadowalker? You don't have to care about her death or anyone else's. No one has to care about anybody's death. But it's a bit rude and completely pointless to come into a memorial thread and talk about how much you don't care that the person died.

smalls · May 1, 2014

Devil Ledbetter said:
What I do find surprising is that there was no evidence of heroin abuse at her death scene. Do you think someone hid it? My only familiarity with the drug is what I've seen on TV or in movies, but it doesn't seem like shooting up or smoking a dose of heroin strong enough to kill you would leave you with the time/cognitive wherewithal to hide the evidence.

It's possible someone was there with her and hid the evidence before leaving, but it's also entirely possible that she put the stuff away herself. An overdose doesn't always immediately render a person incapacitated (like in the movies). If she had other stuff in her system, like an anti-anxiety medication for example, it's possible she just went to bed like any other night and didn't wake up.

Celia Cyanide · May 1, 2014

shadowwalker said:
So yeah, had she been killed in a car accident, the sadness would be greater because she would have had no culpability.

People die in car accidents due to their own mistakes all the time.

firedrake · May 1, 2014

shadowwalker said:
No, but I'm not going to get all teary-eyed about her. If she weren't a celebrity, just some derelict on the street, how much "Ahh, how horrible!" do you think we'd be hearing? Why should we care any more about her?

You don't think the family knows it was her own doing? I've had this sort of thing happen in my own extended family, and the sorrow is tempered by anger that the person did this to themselves and put the family through it. So yeah, had she been killed in a car accident, the sadness would be greater because she would have had no culpability.

Wow.
That is just cold.

I'm upset when anyone loses their lives because of an addiction. This whole notion that the person had a 'choice' doesn't come into it. A little compassion, regardless of who the victim is wouldn't go amiss.

shadowwalker · May 1, 2014

Celia Cyanide said:
But it's a bit rude and completely pointless to come into a memorial thread and talk about how much you don't care that the person died.

This is in Politics and Current Events, not Remembrances. I assume that means it's open for discussion, not just homage.

rugcat · May 1, 2014

shadowwalker said:
This is in Politics and Current Events, not Remembrances. I assume that means it's open for discussion, not just homage.

Well, there's discussion, and then there's just pure mean-spirited dismissiveness.

shadowwalker · May 1, 2014

rugcat said:
Well, there's discussion, and then there's just pure mean-spirited dismissiveness.

Because I don't consider celebrity status to somehow place people above the rest of the populace? Or because I don't make excuses for drug abuse? She used drugs, she died because of it - just like a lot of other people. I don't find her story any more tragic because she was the kid of celebrities or because that made her a celebrity.

If I had died because of my alcoholism, that would have been my fault, just as the aftermath for my family would have been my fault. I chose to drink; I chose to quit; I choose to stay dry. Everybody has those same choices.

firedrake · May 2, 2014

shadowwalker said:
Because I don't consider celebrity status to somehow place people above the rest of the populace? Or because I don't make excuses for drug abuse? She used drugs, she died because of it - just like a lot of other people. I don't find her story any more tragic because she was the kid of celebrities or because that made her a celebrity.

If I had died because of my alcoholism, that would have been my fault, just as the aftermath for my family would have been my fault. I chose to drink; I chose to quit; I choose to stay dry. Everybody has those same choices.

So I'm guessing that because you were one of those who was able to kick their addiction, that gives you the right to pass judgement on those who aren't as fortunate.

Celia Cyanide · May 2, 2014

shadowwalker said:
Because I don't consider celebrity status to somehow place people above the rest of the populace? Or because I don't make excuses for drug abuse?

Where did any of us do either of those things? How do you know how any of us feel when another person dies? Sometimes, people are touched by a death because they know who the person is. Sometimes, they're touched because they connect emotionally with the situation in some way. You read some news stories, and you're very effected by them, and others not so much. Nobody here thinks she's more important than other people, or that her mistakes are excusable when others are not. People just know who she is, and some of us have known of her since she was a little girl.

Bob Geldof was the founder of Live Aid. It's not as if he and his family have never done anything worth caring about. They're hardly the Kardashians. You're acting like people who think this story is sad only think that because she's famous.

By the way? Alcoholism is not the same thing as heroin addiction.

And yes, threads are open for discussion, but it's not really discussion to go into a thread and complain about how you don't care about the topic.

shadowwalker · May 2, 2014

A lot of people have no sympathy for those who choose to use drugs. Like I said, if you wanted this to be nothing but hearts and flowers you put the thread in the wrong place.

And maybe it's true that alcohol addiction is different from heroin addiction - after all, it's not like you can get heroin at the local liquor store - you have to make a real effort to get it.

Devil Ledbetter · May 2, 2014

shadowwalker said:
And maybe it's true that alcohol addiction is different from heroin addiction - after all, it's not like you can get heroin at the local liquor store - you have to make a real effort to get it.

That's a fact that speaks to the tenacity of heroin addiction. It's harder to get, highly illegal, socially unacceptable and extremely risky, yet that doesn't deter those who are addicted to it.

shadowwalker · May 2, 2014

Devil Ledbetter said:
That's a fact that speaks to the tenacity of heroin addiction. It's harder to get, highly illegal, socially unacceptable and extremely risky, yet that doesn't deter those who are addicted to it.

It also speaks to the fact that one has to make a real effort, an active decision, to go out and get it. Her 1-year-old was there, for God's sake.

Okay. I'm done here. I don't understand how the actions that would be roundly condemned if done by others is somehow a "tragedy" here, but whatever...

Devil Ledbetter · May 2, 2014

shadowwalker said:
It also speaks to the fact that one has to make a real effort, an active decision, to go out and get it. Her 1-year-old was there, for God's sake.

Actually, it's pretty common for wealthy addicts to have their drugs delivered to their door. An addict in Peaches Geldof's social position would not necessarily have had to pack her one-year-old into the carseat with a sippy cup in order to go trolling about the worst part of town looking to score.

shadowwalker said:
Okay. I'm done here. I don't understand how the actions that would be roundly condemned if done by others is somehow a "tragedy" here, but whatever...

I don't roundly condemn the non-famous for addiction. I think it's a tragedy when just about any drug addict succumbs to his or her disease. I also don't have a finite supply of compassion which must be carefully meted out to the most deserving.

It's fine if you'd never heard of Peaches Geldof and are bewildered as to why anyone would care about her demise. But some of us knew who she was and were already aware of her tragic background. This doesn't make us hypocritical morons for having sympathy for her.

Celia Cyanide · May 4, 2014

shadowwalker said:
I don't understand how the actions that would be roundly condemned if done by others is somehow a "tragedy" here, but whatever...

How do you know how we would react if it were anybody else? Not everyone condemns anyone who's a drug addict.

Celia Cyanide · May 4, 2014

shadowwalker said:
A lot of people have no sympathy for those who choose to use drugs.

And they're all wisely choosing not to post here, except you, apparently.

shadowwalker said:
And maybe it's true that alcohol addiction is different from heroin addiction - after all, it's not like you can get heroin at the local liquor store - you have to make a real effort to get it.

Not maybe--it IS different. Just because you understand what alcoholism is like doesn't mean you have any idea what heroin addiction is like.

Alessandra Kelley · Jul 23, 2014

The inquest has ruled it was a heroin overdose.

There was a used syringe in the box next to her bed, and she was lying on a pair of knotted tights (which the BBC considered significant). There was heroin in the house, far purer than the street-level stuff, and burnt spoons and more knotted tights and dozens of used and unused syringes.

I know little about that family, although I once saw footage of Geldof's mother and felt sorry at the time for the woman's daughters. The whole thing is sad.

William Haskins · Jul 23, 2014

a very sad, and all too familiar, story.

Diana Hignutt · Jul 23, 2014

No Man is an Island
entire to himself
therefore do not ask
for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for you

John Dunne (more or less--from memory)

Lady MacBeth · Jul 23, 2014

Very sad.

RIP Peaches Geldof

Celia Cyanide

Joker Groupie

smalls

Celia Cyanide

Joker Groupie

firedrake

practical experience, FTW

shadowwalker

empty-nester!

rugcat

Lost in the Fog

shadowwalker

empty-nester!

firedrake

practical experience, FTW

Celia Cyanide

Joker Groupie

shadowwalker

empty-nester!

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,

shadowwalker

empty-nester!

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,

Celia Cyanide

Joker Groupie

Celia Cyanide

Joker Groupie

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

William Haskins

poet

Diana Hignutt

Very Tired

Lady MacBeth

Out, damn'd spot! out, I say.